Wanaka sculptor Elizabeth Hall's new limestone piece, Captivated, was lifted into place outside the Wanaka Library at the weekend. It features a near life-size young girl lying, resting her shoulders on her sleeping dog as she reads a book.
Mrs Hall acknowledged the sculpture's arrival at the library was timely given the community's much-publicised criticism of the Queenstown Lakes District Council for its planned restructuring of library staff and services.
''Why I made her - it was actually about libraries in a way, because she is the epitome of what libraries and reading are all about, because she is so engrossed in what she is doing.''
Her granddaughter Ava Erickson, also of Wanaka, was the inspiration for the limestone girl.
''To get the emotion into my sculpture I thought of her.''
The sculpture won the prize for the best exhibit from the Upper Clutha at the Wanaka Arts Society's annual Easter art exhibition, Mrs Hall said, and would now be on permanent loan to the library.
She did not believe books would ever become redundant, despite the growing popularity of alternatives like electronic reading technologies.
''There's something about turning the pages of a book,'' she said.
